Travelling art exhibit on water justice comes to Western U
An international art exhibit focusing on water justice is coming to Western University this week.
A travelling exhibit called “Confluency” is making its first stop at the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre on campus. The focus is on water justice, an issue linked to climate change and accessibility to clean water.
The exhibit began in South Africa, but Lesley Gittings, assistant professor in the School of Health Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences at Western, helped coordinate the exhibit and is part of its research team.
“The idea behind the exhibition was to bring together academics, activists, and artists around the key issue of water justice which is an issue all over the world,” said Gittings. “A second objective is to make art accessible and to invite people into the exhibition in interactive ways.”
The exhibit is part of Western’s Riverfest, which is co-organized by the Indigenous Students’ Association, Indigenous Student Centre, and Western’s Sustainability office, which runs from September 9 to October 3.
Londoners are invited to interact with sculptures, videos, poetry, and more aspects within the exhibit.
On Friday, Gittings spoke of an art piece in the gallery that shows a water journey in South Africa as understood by different communities outside Cape Town.
“It's important because Cape Town was the world’s first major city to almost run out of water, so that brought up a lot of thought around issues of drought and water justice because people who were the most protected from the drought were those with the most access to resources,” she explained. “Poorer folks and racialized folks had the least amount of access.”
This is Western’s second year hosting Riverfest, a month-long series of events taking place on campus.
“It’s focused on building connections with the campus community and the river and the natural heritage on campus,” said Jessica Cordes, an engagement coordinator with Western’s Office of Sustainability.
“Our university is situated in the Carolinian life zone, which is one of the most bio-diverse regions in all of Canada. With the Thames River flowing through campus, we think it's important to create places and opportunities for our campus to connect,” said Cordes.
Speaking to the importance of water and accessibility to clean water, Ashley Kewayosh Samuel, student opportunities coordinator with the Indigenous Student Centre said,
“It gives us so much, it gives us our life. We can’t live without clean water, so this is an extension, it shows that all around the world people are doing that work. It's amazing to bring that here,”
Events for Riverfest can be found on the university’s Sustainability Office website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Man or machine? Toronto company finds a way to determine how real audio clips are
The Toronto-based research arm of life sciences technology firm Klick Health has found a way to analyze voices in a manner that’s so granular, it can tell whether it's a person or an artificial intelligence-powered machine.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
More seniors are using homeless shelters. Here's why, according to experts
One of the country’s homeless shelters has seen an uptick in the number of people through its doors, including more older adults over 50.
The death toll in Kharkiv attack rises to 14 as Zelenskyy warns of Russian troop movements
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday that Russia is preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine's northern border, as the death toll rose to 14 in an aerial bomb attack on a large construction supplies store in the city of Kharkiv.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels freed over 100 war prisoners, the Red Cross says
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday released more than 100 war prisoners linked to the country’s long-running conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
No sign Canada has a plan to reach NATO defence spending target: U.S. NATO ambassador
The U.S. ambassador to NATO says she has seen no indication that Canada has a plan to reach the NATO spending target of two per cent of GDP on defence.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.